Here in Australia the constellation of Gemini is well and truly up by 1.15am so I braved the mosquitoes and all the festive Christmas lights on display to try and catch a few of them here at home.

After 3 hours all I caught was one, but one is better than none, maybe tomorrow morning I may have better luck…that is, if the weather holds out!

I also got a photo of the waning crescent Moon with Mars and Jupiter in the eastern sky before dawn with the puffy clouds being reflected in the water…The view was very serene, so I think all the pretty lights added to my picture after all :-)

Images were taken with a Canon 700D camera and an 18-55mm lens; the exposure for the meteor image was 15 second, ISO1600. The wide field image was also a 15 second exposure and ISO 200, lens set at 18mm.

Geminid MeteorsTHE GEMINID METEOR SHOWER: Right now, Earth is passing through a stream of gravelly debris from "rock comet" 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower. Sky watchers far from city lights could see dozens of meteors per hour. The best time to look, no matter where you live, is during the dark hours before sunrise on Thursday, Dec. 14th, when the constellation Gemini is high overhead. [sky map]